We can thank the Swedes for many useful things.

They gave us the seat belt and Lars Lagerbäck. But every now and then, things have gone rather badly. Their most famous ship sank after sailing just over a kilometre. Alfred Nobel accidentally blew up his brother. The Scanian accent is a subject of its own. And then there is vaskning.

How did anyone come up with this?

It may sound too Swedish to be true, but a little over a decade ago it was apparently considered smart in some circles to order two bottles of champagne at a nightclub and have one of them poured down the sink.

The buyer would then stand there, proudly. Hoping to impress people around him.

Of course, this is an absurd excercise.

Apart from the waste involved, no sensible person would willingly pay double for a drink for no reason.

But what if this kind of waste were convenient and somehow understandable in the circumstances?

The Icelandic version of pouring money down the drain

We would never do vaskning ourselves.

The irresponsibility of it is just too obvious. That’s not how we handle money.

And yet, in Iceland, a certain type of money-draining behaviour seems to have slipped quietly into what many people now treat as a normal part of household finances.

Not so long ago, it was possible to negotiate a cash discount in stores. Today, by contrast, we are encouraged to pay far more for goods and services than the actual sales price.

How did that happen?

It was one big misunderstanding.

We started to think that if something was easy and convenient, it must be fine.

Why save for a car when you can get your dream car right away? Everything is automatic and easy. A few krónur leave the account each month, and all we need to do is choose the colour.

The ISK 9 million car, which we might get ISK 4 million for today, may actually have cost ISK 13 million in the end. But everyone does this, so why shouldn’t I also drive a car I can’t really afford?

Now payment plans are everywhere.

We are offered instalment plans for headphones where the annual percentage rate (listed as ÁHK in Icelandic) can be over 40%. People go on holiday abroad first and then spread the credit card bill afterwards at great cost. It’s now even possible to buy a cinnamon bun and chocolate milk on credit in grocery stores.

All of this is very easy and very convenient. Payment technology has certainly come a long way.

But it is still a misunderstanding, and we need to correct it.

Consumer loans are just as bad today as they were when the solutions were less convenient.

Let’s roll this back

We seem naturally drawn to the bait.

We want to enjoy things now and deal with the expensive consequences later.

But deep down, I think most of us would rather be better off financially over the long term and make sensible choices.

Each of us therefore needs to build defences against the temptations of consumer loans, just as we are now regularly encouraged to watch out for online fraud.

We rightly roll our eyes at champagne-wasting Swedes. In the same way, simple financial principles should nudge us when we start thinking about consumer debt.

Those principles encourage saving, improve our financial health, increase our security and give us a brighter financial future.

We will be far more grateful for having built those habits than for a photograph of champagne being poured down a sink, even if the picture might be worth a laugh.